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Gingerbread

I wouldn’t be doing my duty as the American side of this
blog if I didn’t share a recipe for gingerbread, the
quintessential Christmas food in the U.S. For our non-American readers who
might not be familiar with gingerbread, it is,as the name implies, a quick bread or cake made with ginger and lots of
those other warm spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves that I used in this pumpkin cake and this apple cake. The other distinguishing ingredient in
gingerbread is molasses, an ingredient similar to honey in texture which is a
by-product of the sugar refining process. Gingerbread can also be found in the
form of gingerbread men cookies, or as the base for the gingerbread houses Americans
decorate for Christmas. It is something that I find tends to be in the same
category as pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving or s’mores on the Fourth of July – a dessert that really only gets made around Christmas, which is a shame because gingerbread
is to delicious to only be eaten during one month of the year. But I digress.As much as I love gingerbread, there’s nothing I dislike
more than gingerbread not done well – all too often gingerbread can be dry,
bland, and dependent on whipped cream or powdered sugar to spice it up. I’m
happy to say that this recipe is none of those things – it is quite nearly perfect.
If Christmas could be summed up in a food, it would be this cake. I would even
go as far as to say this is something Santa’s elves would probably eat in
between making toys and taking care of reindeer – this is so good in fact, that
it’s fit for Santa himself, something he would probably fuel up on pre round
the world toy delivery on December 24. This is gingerbread at its
best -- incredibly moist and fluffy with a deep caramel-y flavor thanks to the
molasses, which highlights the spices perfectly. In short, it belongs in your
Christmas recipe repertoire.You can go two routes when making this recipe – either you
keep things simple and enjoy it as a quick dessert or breakfast with a little
whipped cream, or take it to the next level by making gingerbread cupcakes, and
topping them with cream cheese frosting. As you can see from the photos, I
couldn’t choose which version I preferred, so I ended up using the batter to
make both a cake and cupcakes (breakfast and dessert taken care of in one
recipe!) Both were fantastic – just depends on what you’re in the mood for. Enjoy! GINGERBREAD Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter1 egg1 cup molasses21/2 cups flour1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda2 teaspoon ground cinnamon2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup hot water Directions:In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and nutmeg. Blend into the butter and sugar mixture with a wooden spoon. Stir in the hot water. Pour the gingerbread batter into the prepared pan. If you’re making plain gingerbread, it will take 45-50 minutes. If you’re making cupcakes, it will take about 20 minutes. Bake the gingerbread or the gingerbread cupcakes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the gingerbread to cool completely before serving. If you made cupcakes, you can find the recipe for the cream cheese frosting here. Makes 1 cake to serve 8 people or 10-12 cupcakes.